Author Archives: Michael

QUICK REVIEW: Out Caste – Peter Fehervari

Peter Fehervari’s Out Caste is a very brief (i.e. micro-short) prequel story to the wonderful novel Fire Caste, focused on the character of Jhi’kaara, a scarred and battle-hardened t’au Fire Warrior. Nominally set sometime before the events of Fire Caste, it sees Jhi’khaara in reflective mood, looking back on her path through life and the events – some positive, others profoundly painful – which led her to where she’s ended up. It’s a story about identity and the specific importance which that concept has for the t’au, shown through the lens of a warrior looking from the outside in.

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Black Library: Spotlight on Ian St. Martin

With the general release of Angron: Slave of Nuceria, as I went back over my review I realised that I had read and reviewed every single Ian St. Martin story that’s currently available from Black Library (the only exception being the short story Better Angels, which is at present only available in the event-exclusive Scions of the Emperor anthology). With that in mind I thought it was only appropriate to pull all of those reviews – as well as several interviews – together into a single post. Whether you’re thinking about picking up the new Angron novel and fancy finding out a bit more about Ian and his style, or you’ve read Angron and are keen to check out more of Ian’s Black Library stories, this is the place to come!

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Scourge of Fate – Robbie MacNiven

Robbie MacNiven’s first full Age of Sigmar novel, Scourge of Fate is a Chaos-focused tale of the lengths one man is prepared to go to in order to join the ranks of Archaon’s Knights of Ruin – the Varanguard. The Black Pilgrim Vanik, a powerful warlord in his own right, is one of two aspirants competing against each other to claim a single place among the Fifth Circle of the Varanguard. Tasked with killing a great hero of Order, to stop a prophecy and prevent a threat to the Varanspire itself, Vanik raises a great host of warriors and marches on Helmgard in the Realm of Chamon.

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QUICK REVIEW: Reborn – Nicholas Wolf

The Black Library debut for Nicholas Wolf, 40k short story Reborn explores a little of what might happen if an Astra Militarum regiment forsook its oaths to the Emperor, and where that might lead. For Acting-Captain Petrov of the 224th Kelbran Janissaries, the knowledge that his regiment has been abandoned by its commanders and left to die is too much to bear. When he snaps and kills his commissar, he turns his back on the Emperor and takes his first steps on a new path, driven by a determination to survive long enough to return home and see his son.

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QUICK REVIEW: A Sanctuary of Wyrms – Peter Fehervari

An oblique sequel to the phenomenal Fire Caste, Peter Fehervari’s A Sanctuary of Wyrms is an unsettling, insightful short story exploring the sinister side of the T’au Empire and the corrupting nature of the world Fi’draah. On a mission to explore a region known to the gue’la as the Coil, Water Caste emissary Por’ui Asharil finds her opinions of her Earth and Fire caste companions challenged, and her belief in the Greater Good shaken. When they reach a seemingly abandoned Imperial outpost, their path takes them into a darkness hiding a horrifying truth, and Asharil’s change is completed.

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Myths & Revenants (Reviews List)

In a similar vein to the 40k short story anthology Lords and Tyrants, which you can read my review of here, Myths & Revenants is a collection of 13 Age of Sigmar short stories which have all been available before in one form or another, either as standalone e-shorts or in other anthologies. Once again, much as I would love to go back and re-read all of these stories – every single one of which I enjoyed the first time around – I don’t really have time to do that while also reading everything else that I’ve got my eye on.

With that in mind, instead of a full review of the anthology as a single book, I’ve followed the structure of what I did with Lords and Tyrants and broken down the contents of the anthology, writing a little bit about each story and providing a link to my review so you can get a little more detail for anything you’re particularly interested in. This time around I’ve reviewed all but one of the stories before. They’re listed alphabetically by author, so read on and see what you think – click the links in the titles to see my reviews.

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The Way Out – Rachel Harrison

A multi-part audio drama told over three 20-plus minute instalments as part of Black Library’s Digital Horror Week 2019 (subsequently released as a standalone CD/MP3), Rachel Harrison’s The Way Out is a creepy little 40k story of the cracks that let the darkness in. For Captain Karina Arq and her crew, watch station Refuge offers a glimmer of hope when their ship, the Fortune’s Favour, is forced to suddenly drop out of the Warp. It’s not until Arq and her companions board the station, however, that they start to realise that what they thought was salvation may in fact be something entirely different…and much worse.

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QUICK REVIEW: The Garden of Mortal Delights – Robert Rath

Robert Rath makes an impressive Black Library debut with The Garden of Mortal Delights, an Age of Sigmar short story which manages to explore interesting angles on both Slaanesh worship and the mindset of the Sylvaneth. Branchwych Kurdwen has been held captive for a full season, serving the whims of Revish the Epicurean and tending to his pleasure garden. Grown bored of the more visceral excesses, Revish has turned to culinary pleasures to sate his desires, utilising Kurdwen’s talents to nurture his garden. As he increasingly relies upon her skills, however, the branchwych has plans of her own in motion.

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QUICK REVIEW: Blood Sacrifice – Peter McLean

The fourth and final short story in Black Library’s Digital Horror Week 2019, Peter McLean’s Blood Sacrifice returns to the story of Corporal Cully and the Reslian 45th as a sequel to Baphomet By Night. Digging in on a dreary hive world under the watchful eye of a new, by-the-book sergeant, the endless waiting is wearing on Cully and bringing back painful memories. When the opportunity arises to make a little money off the books Cully jumps at the chance, but what should be a straightforward job becomes something much worse when an abandoned medicae facility turns out to be anything but.

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The Red Feast – Gav Thorpe

Gav Thorpe’s The Red Feast is an unusual Age of Sigmar novel in that it isn’t actually set in the Age of Sigmar. Instead it’s set long before that, still in the Mortal Realms – Aqshy, in fact – but in a time before the Age of Chaos. It takes place across the Flamescar Plateau, where once-warlike tribes have found an uneasy kind of peace having largely abandoned their old gods in favour of the teachings of Sigmar. Athol Khul is the spear-carrier, the bridge between his tribe – the Khul – and the Aridians. To Athol, the bond between the tribes is to both peoples’ benefit, but as tensions arise and their alliance is tested he begins to see that things aren’t quite so simple.

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